Tweet

Workplace Relationship Building - The Purpose of Openness

Guest post by: Martin Haworth

Article Overview: The relationships that managers have with their people are vital for success. Where fruitful interactions happen, there needs to be a level of trust to enable as much sharing as possible. And openness is the key...

Workplace Relationship Building - The Purpose of Openness

When we want to get the best from our employees, we have to make the effort to get to know them better. It has to be a two-way process to help them feel comfortable with you, so that opening up is an easy step for them. Getting to know them well, includes giving them an understanding of what you are about too. By sharing just a little of your inner self, you will encourage them to be more open too. There's no need to go too far with this. No need to overwhelm them with the problems you face, until you feel able to and when you know it is appropriate and it will be valuable - on both sides.

These levels of relationships are very intimate and with that comes responsibilities such as confidentiality, understanding and support as the very least.

Being open with you, their boss, can create vulnerabilities and sensitivities that you need to realize is an honor, because people do not let just anyone under their skin. It has to be earned and respected.

When you are open with people, you share your innermost self with them. When your team members feel safe enough to do so, the openness they offer needs to be reciprocated, so that they know that it is the relationship that is valuable, both ways, such that trust and win-win are the expected outcomes.

In the overall concept of workplace relationships' the purpose of encouraging openness is to create and expand that bond between you both, such that each recognizes the value of the other in that pairing. Sharing a little of yourself with your people will be incredibly encouraging for them.

Being 'human' and one-to-one with people - in itself - is a huge step towards openness. The time you take to create the space for the interaction is an indication that you value them as an individual. That you respect their needs as well as see them as a significant contributor.

As this evolves, they will share more deeply their thoughts about their work. They will start to tell you that they have aspirations; that they struggle a little. The value of developing this openness between you is not just that you find out more about your people either.

Where you share your own challenges openly, you may be surprised at the offers of contributions to support you that you can generate. Openness is simply not about one-way traffic, it engenders togetherness through trust, working together to help and develop each other, irrespective of hierarchy.

And openness starts with you, their manager encouraging it through the model you show them, and the way your behaviors bring it on.

Related Articles
  Why Great Workplace Relationships Are So Valuable
  Outcomes to Seek When Building Workplace Relationships
  Vision or Trust
  Management Development - Four Advanced Coaching Skills
  Effective Business Relationships - What Are They?

Article Tags: encouraging openness, management development, relationship building, workplace relationship



Related Forum Posts
Type of business with building - If you owned a building and Wal-Mart was opening its doors across the street in a previously unoccupied area (along with 12-14 small shops), what type of business would you start? Here are the considerations: 1. Money is a non-factor 2. Building is fairly large (10,000) square feet 3. Building is on the corner of a busy intersection (about to get much busier)
Removal of Director paperwork - Hello I have to remove a director from my company, does anyone know where I can find director termination paperwork, and paperwork to terminate officer status in a corporation. Also, I am looking for information on the legality of diluting existing shareholders shares when I have the controlling block. Relationship with business partner went sour. Regards, Peter
Re: Seven Marketing Strategies To Attract The Affluent Buyer - Hello, Building confidence with positive communication skill is very helpful and it helps in attracting consumers. Regards, sarah_9
Re: Quick Ways To Utilize SEO Effectively - Hi Mary, It will only help if those websites are linking back to you, and then that's still not very affective. It's much better to generate one-way backlinks to your site. Building quality backlinks is the name of the game.
Need help in Team Building Activity.. - Hi! I am tasked to organize a Team Building Activity in the office. I would like to seek help from you guys on ideas on how to make it worth the time and effort. I want the team to ask for more team building activities after this one. Thanks! jane


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Let's Skip the Offshore Horror Stories

The State of the Sustainable Furniture Industry

10 Steps to Excelling at Franchise Sales

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.